ABSTRACT
The Cuban government rules from an authoritarian center because it is Cuban rather than because it is communist. In Latin American and Iberian studies of late, much attention—and a large body of ground-breaking literature—has been devoted to the phenomena of corporatism and bureaucratic-authoritarianism. The debate has been lent particular poignancy by the growing realization that corporatism and bureaucratic-authoritarianism may take left-wing directions, as in Peru or Portugal, and rightist ones. The argument that Cuba was governed autocratically and constituted a Communist dictatorship has long been made by the right and the exiles. The new Cuban constitution was supposed to help decentralize the system and expand local initiative and self-management in field and factory, but in reality, Dolgoff finds, it will lead to even greater concentrated power. A series of provocative questions follow, which cannot be answered finally but should serve to stimulate further thinking and discussion about Cuba and the nature of its revolution.
